Abstract

This paper considers how policy developments in the last decade in England have impacted on and 'shaped' the curriculum for literacy in early childhood and views about how young children learn about literacy. It argues that these views are contradicted by well-established research in the field of emergent literacy, which reveals young children as active and competent literacy learners. The possibility of 'reconstructing' existing practice is examined through contrasting curricula approaches, which offer different understandings about children and the early childhood curriculum.